Part 13

=Quake or Totter-grass= (Briza media), and

=Meadow Foxtail= (Alopecurus pratensis).

The Totter-grass differs so strongly in appearance from other grasses that minute description is unnecessary except as an aid in making out the structure. Every child that plays in the meadow singles this out as the most desirable acquisition among grasses, because of its constant tremblings. The inflorescence is a very loose pyramidal panicle, due to the extremely long and hair-like stalks upon which the shining purple spikelets are swung. The empty glumes are two; flowering glumes six to eight. The stem creeps below the surface, and the leaves are flat. The plant is perennial; but there is another species, the Small Quake-grass (B. minor), that is annual. This is not so common a plant, and is found chiefly between Cornwall and Hampshire. It is much smaller than B. media, and has tufted stems; it flowers in July, media a month earlier. The name Briza is Greek, and was anciently applied to some kind of corn.

The Meadow Foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis) bears a general resemblance to Timothy (page 25), to which it is not distantly allied; but from which it differs in having no pale or scales. Its cylindrical panicle is yellowish-green, with silvery hairs, the branches bearing three to six spikelets. It is a perennial plant, and produces runners. It forms a valuable portion of all good pastures, the herbage being exceedingly nutritive. It flowers in May and June. The name is Greek, signifying Foxtail. There are three other native species in the genus:--

I. Slender Foxtail (A. agrestis). Annual. Panicle slender, often purplish, branches hairy, with two spikelets. A wayside weed. May to October.

II. Alpine Foxtail (A. alpinus). Perennial. Panicle ovate, short, ¾ inch, branches with four to six spikelets. Anthers yellow. Rare, near alpine streams, from 2,100 to 3,600 feet. Scotland. July and August.

III. Floating Foxtail (A. geniculatus). Perennial. Stems, procumbent and rooting. Panicle dense, slender. Branches with one spikelet. Anthers purplish. Pools and wet places. May to August.

=Dog-rose= (Rosa canina).

Probably most non-botanical ramblers feel able to distinguish at once between the Dog-rose and the Field-rose, and a few may be learned enough to separate either or both from the Burnet-rose and the Sweet-briar--and they may do it. But the scientific botanist has difficulties, and he is not quite sure where one species leaves off and another begins. Many workers have so split up our six or seven British roses into a vast multitude of species, sub-species, and varieties that it is difficult to follow them. In this work we shall not attempt it. The Dog-rose is the largest of the British roses. It forms a bush of considerable size, with long arching branches, covered with broad hooks. The leaves are broken up into five leaflets, each of which is sharply toothed. The sepals are five in number, pinnate, and turned back towards the stem when the flower is open. The petals are five, pink and notched. Stamens many. Styles free, hairy. The ovary is sunk in the calyx, which changes to the pitcher-shaped scarlet fruits--the “hips” of the schoolboy--in which are the hairy achenes. Flowers mostly solitary. Generally common in hedges and copses, flowering from June to August.

I. The Field-rose (R. arvensis) is very similar to R. canina, but the flowers are generally in clusters, the petals white. Sepals falling off. In similar places. June and July. Easily distinguished by its trailing habit.

II. The Burnet- or Scotch-rose (R. spinosissima) is a much-branched shrub, with the leaves divided into seven or nine leaflets. Stem crowded with nearly straight prickles, showing every stage in the transition from thorns to stiff bristles and glandular hairs. Petals white or pink. Fruit nearly globular. Heaths and open places chiefly, on sand and chalk, especially near the sea. May and June.

III. Sweet Briar (R. rubiginosa). A small bush with erect or arching branches, set with hooked prickles mixed with glandular hairs and bristles. Leaflets densely glandular and aromatic. Flowers small, pink. Fruit globose. Bushy places, chiefly in South of England. June and July.

Rosa canina.

--ROSACEÆ.--]

Helianthemum vulgare.

--CISTINEÆ.--]

=Rock-rose= (Helianthemum vulgare).

On our chalk-downs, and on banks in gravelly soils, from June to September the pale yellow flowers of the Rock-rose are abundant. In spite of its plentifulness, however, it is not among those flowers that are generally known, except to the botanist. The rest of the world probably includes it among the buttercups, with which it has no relationship. The plant is shrubby, with a creeping rootstock; its branches trail on the ground among grass and low herbage. It is therefore by no means a conspicuous plant, though it occurs in considerable masses, and is perennial. The leaves are small, oblong, with an even margin; the upper surface hairy, the lower downy. They are arranged in pairs on the stem, and provided with stipules.

The flower-bud is protected by only three sepals, but there are two others reduced to the size and shape of stipules; and so their number really corresponds with the five somewhat flabby petals, which have the softness of the poppy rather than the stiffness of the buttercup. The stamens that surround the pistil are a multitude; they are also irritable, and on being touched fall back from the pistil. The plant is common throughout the country, except in Cornwall and West Scotland, in which districts it is rare. The name is Greek, and signifies sunflower.

There are three other British species:--

I. White Rock-rose (H. polifolium). Similar, but more shrubby; margins of leaves curled back. Flowers white. Very rare. Stony places in Somerset and South Devon. May to July.

II. Spotted Annual Rock-rose (H. guttatum). An Annual, of erect habit; the lower leaves opposite, without stipules, the upper alternate, with stipules. Petals wedge-shaped, yellow, with a red spot at the base of each. Stony places, Anglesea and Holyhead; very rare. More freely near Cork and in the Channel Islands. June to August.

III. Dwarf Rock-rose (H. canum). More woody than the others; stems trailing. The whole plant hoary, and much branched. Leaves opposite, without stipules. Flowers yellow, not numerous. May to July, from Glamorgan to Westmoreland.

=Bird’s-foot Trefoil= (Lotus corniculatus).

From June to October our commons, pastures, downs and railway banks are bright with the flowers of Bird’s-foot Trefoil, or as it is termed in some districts, Lady’s Slipper, a name which properly belongs to the rare orchis Cypripedium.

The plant belongs to the same Natural Order (Leguminosæ) as the Broom (see page 7 ante), and its flowers are of similar construction, though much smaller. There is a short, woody, perennial rootstock, from which originate several trailing branches, which are themselves much branched. The leaves are not trefoils, as the name would lead us to suppose, for the apparent stipules at the base of the leaf-stalk are in this genus leaflets. The flowers, which are in spreading heads of from three to ten flowers, are of a pretty yellow, tinted with red. They are succeeded by little cylindrical pods about an inch in length, which, when three or four are in a cluster, present the appearance of a bird’s claws. The plant is a valued ingredient in the formation of pastures and meadows. The name was given to the genus because this was believed to be one of the plants to which the ancient Greeks applied the name Lotus.

There are three other species natives of Britain:--

I. Greater Bird’s-foot Trefoil (L. uliginosus). More or less erect in habit. The calyx-teeth spreading in bud (in L. corniculatus they are erect in bud). Moist meadows and swampy places. July and August.